The Complicated Life of Lizzy Bennet
by JustBestThings
Summary: Lizzy Bennet does not like routine. She has her secrets and and her past mistakes, but now she is moving on with her life and finding a new job, when she suddenly meets with the man, who broke her heart.
1. Chapter 1

She woke up and immediately panicked. She was going to be late on the most important day in her recent life. Recent life, because she considers her birth and even some of her numerous graduations to be a bit more significant than a simple job interview.

The words that came out of her mouth, when she saw the time, would have made a sailor blush. She put on a regular white collar outfit, a black pencil skirt, white blouse and a matching jacket, grabbed her heels (reasonable height, of course, she didn't want to look like a stripper or a stereotypical secretary, who only got the job by sleeping with the boss) and ran out of her flat. Only then she realised she forgot her Oyster card. Usually, it wouldn't be a problem, because she loves to walk and the destination was not far, but today she was late as it is. She loved to arrive at least ten minutes earlier, it did wonders to her stress level, but now it would be a miracle, if she wouldn't be half an hour late. She swore a bit more and headed to the tube, where she lost some more of her very valuable time having a fight with the ticket machine. When she finally got to the platform, she had a nice surprise waiting for her: all trains on the line were delayed. "All hail the effectiveness of The London Transport System!" she muttered to herself sarcastically, "This day couldn't get any worse." But, of course, Lady Fate took that as a challenge.

When she finally reached her destination, sweating from the lack of proper ventilation in the underground, she gave a happy sigh: she was only five minutes late. She entered the glass skyscraper and was met by a cheerful receptionist. "Hello, I'm Clara! How can I be of assistance?"

"Hi, I'm here for an interview, but unfortunately I'm a bit late because the bloody tube can't seem to be on time."

"Oh, you must be Elizabeth then. I have everything prepared for you." The receptionist gave her a security pass and a piece of paper with directions, "Don't worry, that you're late. Mr. Bingley will not mind. He's a kind and understanding person," she added with a huge smile. Lizzy thanked her and headed towards the lifts.

She stood in the metal box heading up to the 67th floor. She was shaking, not because she was claustrophobic, which she isn't, but it had been a while since her last job interview. The fact, that she was currently in a very prestigious firm, was also not helping.

Elizabeth Bennet, to friends Lizzy, was not a stupid woman. To the contrary, she was far from it. As former child genius, at the current age of twenty five, she had twelve academic degrees. She got bored easily, that's why she couldn't obtain only one degree at a time like regular people do. Her most valued academic achievement was her PhD in Neurosurgery; she was the most valued surgeon in the world, but as it was already mentioned, she disliked routine. This is the reason why she found herself in a lift _en route_ to apply to a position of a simple secretary.

ADG International was one of the biggest firms in the world, a strong competitor of the likes of Unilever, Nestle and even Google, with its figurative fingers in every business area thinkable from breakfast foods to the IT sector.

The sudden _ping_ of the lift pulled Lizzy from her reverie. She stepped out and felt her feet shaking. 'This will not do, Lizzy,' she thought to herself, 'You are a strong independent woman with experiences in different fields of work. You are smart and confident and if you do not stop shaking like you come straight out of university I am very disappointed in you.'

She took a deep breath, feeling much calmer, and continued to follow the instructions that nice receptionist cave her. She politely knocked on the door and was asked to enter. Opposite her sat a handsome red-headed man with a big grin stretching all over his face. He asked her to sit in front of a mahogany desk: "Good morning, Miss Bennet, it's really nice to finally meet from face to face after such a long email conversation. I understand that there were delays in the tube again." Seeing the shock on her face he explained: "A co-worker, Miss Long to be more precise, was complaining about it just a few minutes ago."

Lizzy laughed: "Yes, that's correct! I thought it was Fate making my life difficult, but as I understand it is not only my problem."

The interview was quite short. They continued with the similar kind of bantering, with Mr Bingley occasionally asking some more practical questions and making sure that she has what it takes to be good at the job. Approximately five minutes after she entered the office Mr Bingley said: "I have made a decision and I would like to offer you the place." Lizzy accepted immediately. "I'm glad, that that's over," replied obviously relieved Bingley, or Charles as he asked her to call him: "It is unbelievably difficult to find a proper secretary in London to my surprise. To be honest, I haven't told you all about the job, but I hope you won't change your mind. You will be directly working with the CEO of ADG International. I hope you understand why I didn't reveal this before, because if this would've gotten out, all the, and I kid you not, gold diggers would've run amok."

They set the date, when Lizzy would start her work and sign the contract which was in two days. When she started to leave Bingley said: "Could you wait for a moment? I'll see if he's in the office then I could introduce you two."

He left in a hurry and Lizzy had a moment to better observe the office. It was quite unremarkable except for a huge floor-to-ceiling window taking up a whole wall. It had a mesmerising view to the city that Lizzy was in love with. She could've stayed there forever if she didn't hear Bingley's voice approaching the office: "Come on, you'll like the new secretary I've found you. She is intelligent and has a good sense of humour."

"Bingley, I'm really not in a mood to meet with a fickle-minded idiot who knows nothing of the world and was hired only because she has long legs."

Lizzy was immediately mortified, that someone could say something like this about a person who they've never met before, and furious. She would've marched out of the office and slapped the man, when her subconscious caught up with her and draw her attention to the fact that the voice of Bingley's companion was eerily familiar.

During her contemplation, the voices reached the door, the friendly red-head entered: "Good, Elizabeth, you're still here! Let me introduce you to the CEO of our lovely firm, Mr Darcy."

Lizzy heard none of it, because she was in utter shock. She was faced with an Adonis with dark black hair and mesmerising eyes, but most importantly, a face that was very familiar and one she hadn't seen in four years since the day of their wedding in Las Vegas.


	2. Chapter 2

To say she had been shocked was a grave understatement. The bastard was as handsome as he had been four years ago. This realisation increased her state of absolute rage that had already been brought on by his ignorant words.

Bingley's words of introduction brought her back from the land of anger and memories. Suddenly, her face broke into a huge grin. Those, who had had an honour to be acquainted with her a bit more closely, would've seen the warning signs and would've been running in fear of the murderous gleam in her eyes: "Good morning, Mr Darcy! I'm _Miss_ Bennet," she stressed her title making sure he understood she wanted to keep their previous encounter a secret: "I'm your new long-legged and fickle-minded secretary who knows nothing of the world. Now, would you excuse me, Charles, I really must be going. Have a nice day!" She exited the room leaving the men standing with their mouths open. The last thing she heard was an angry and sarcastic Bingley: "Well done, Darce! If before she was one of the few secretaries who didn't hate you then now she sure does."

She continued walking in a haze thinking about the things long gone; the moment she first met him in the lobby of that cursed Vegas hotel, how he was kind and funny, how they spent all their free moments together, how she fell deeply in love with him, how one evening they had a spontaneous idea to get married. She smiled bitterly remembering they were a bit tipsy from the wine they had during the dinner. (Statistics showed that she did nothing good when consuming alcohol. That's why she hadn't had a drop since then.) She remembered her happiness while walking down the aisle, the shine in William's eyes and that fantastic passionate kiss they shared after they'd been pronounced husband and wife.

The figurative theatre in her brain finally started to play her most dreaded memory. Next morning, she woke up in a cold bed. Darcy was nowhere to be seen. She didn't worry until she noticed all his things were gone. She must've called him a thousand times before she put her clothes on and went down to the reception to inquire perhaps he left a message there. The grumpy and impolite woman told that there were no messages and she must vacate the room, because "A Mr Darcy had checked out few hours before".

Luckily, she still had the key of her room. She spent the last week of her month-long holiday in Las Vegas hoping that he will contact her. Her desperate tries of finding him and getting an explanation had been futile. His phone had been disconnected after three days after the wedding.

She returned to Britain as a broken and bitter woman with a very tearstained marriage certificate carelessly shoved into her bag. She vowed to never mention it to anyone not even to Jane, her closest sister and confidante.

Suddenly, back in the real world, Lizzy found herself back in her flat and immediately broke down in tears. 'You still love him, don't you?' sounded at the back of her mind.

"Shut up, brain", she yelled: "I hate him so very much and I promised myself to never see him again the moment I stepped on the plane in Vegas and now I have to bloody work for him."

'Who are you trying to convince? No matter what you say, _I_ know that he has your heart and you're glad that our family sent us to Vegas to celebrate our 21st birthday. Do not dare to lie to _me_ , I know you better than you think you know yourself. I'm your subconscious, remember?'

"I really am going insane, aren't I?"

'No, you're not. You just get along with yourself a bit better than an average person.

"Oh do I?" replied Lizzy oozing with sarcasm.

'Also, you do not have to work as a secretary. You did that all by yourself. It was you, who said that we need a break from the academic world. It was you who wanted a simple white-collar job where we do not have as much responsibility as we do in surgery. Nobody told you to leave most of your schooling out of your CV saying that nobody wants to hire a woman with brains more importantly a woman with brains and two PhD-s, an MD, four MSc-s, an MA, an MBA and three BA-s.'

"Damn, Lydia is right, I sound like mother. Now, please stop berating me and just let me be miserable!"

She walked to the piano that was standing in the middle of her spacious living room and started playing a sad tune. She got to the middle of the song when she heard the doorbell. Her heart started beating twice as fast. Maybe it was him? She forced herself to stay calm and went to the door.

"Hola, señorita! It's me, your favourite bitch!"

"Oh, hi Lottie!" she sighed in relief trying to ignore the painful pang in her chest and her disappointed subconscious saying something about hope dying last.

"Wait, Lizzy, have you been crying? I know that you are an emotional person, but there is no need to cry about not getting a job. Bloody hell, if I had your brains I wouldn't even settle for a low paid position of a secretary." Lottie threw her bag onto the ground and started spinning her hands spread out: "I want to rule the world!" she exclaimed laughingly.

Charlotte had been one of Lizzy's pupils when she taught endovascular neurosurgery in Oxford. She had disliked her at first, but soon they became the closest of friends. Sometimes she thought Lottie knew her too well. She cursed herself for not looking in the mirror before answering the door; at least she could've put on some make up and looked a bit less like a red-eyed snot monster she was at that moment.

"Actually, I got the job. I'm going to be the personal secretary of the CEO," Lizzy replied with fake cheerfulness after Charlotte had finished her rant.

"Then why on Earth have you been crying? Is the pay really so miserably low?"

"Something like that," she replied dismissingly: "Why are you even here? I thought you were supposed to be at some kind of conference somewhere in the middle of nowhere."

"Well, honestly that thing was so boring that I left. Don't judge me, Lizzy!" Charlotte said seeing the look on her friend's face: "You were too good of a student, you don't understand. They had no new information for me so I just walked out. I had an excellent tutor unlike others there."

"I and a good student? You must be delirious!" Lizzy tried to sound appalled, but failed royally: "I used boring lectures to study for other subjects or more often, I don't know, to sleep."

They both laughed until their abs were hurting.

 _Thank you all for reading! I am really overwhelmed by all the lovely people who have followed, reviewed and added this story as their favourite. Feedback is very much appreciated since I do not have much experience in writing in English and grammar is my Achilles' heel. I'll try to update this on Mondays or Tuesdays depending on my schedule. Unfortunately, there probably won't be a post next week since I'm abroad. I hope you'll forgive me._

 _E.G._


	3. Chapter 3

Charlotte had left few hours ago. She tried her hardest to convince Lizzy to go out and celebrate getting a new job, but Lizzy declined saying that she needed her beauty sleep. She had gotten an email from HR with the contract for her to read and some other details. She was supposed to start the next day with basic training so she would be fully qualified to start as Darcy's secretary in two days' time.

Right after Lottie had left Lizzy went to the bookcase and pulled out a folder that had been well concealed between a Plato and a Pratchett. She opened it and immediately tears blurred her vision. "This is it! I can't do this any longer," she said out loud to no one: "I need to stop hiding my head in the sand and finally get over with it." Her favourite way of handling problems, she didn't want to face, was to hide from them. This was the first time she had looked at the marriage certificate. She felt miserable and angry at the same time. Well, what does one expect from a girl, whose heart was broken and trampled on, but the bastard who did it is still as handsome as ever and unlike her, doesn't seem to hold any tender feelings.

She sighed and dialled Jane's number. Jane was her eldest sister and her closest confidante, who looked like a supermodel and just happened to be one of the best human rights lawyer on this planet. "Hi, Janey! I hope I'm not interrupting anything" she said with fake cheerfulness desperately hoping that her voice won't betray her.

"Hi, Lizzy, I'm just doing some paperwork so go ahead."

"Well, one of my friends just called. She found her husband in bed with a blonde bimbo. As you can probably guess, she wants a divorce. She wanted to know if I knew any good divorce lawyers, because, and I quote, 'I want to rob that bastard of everything he likes'. I said that I'll look into it." Lizzy hoped that the story sounded plausible. It was a plot of some soap opera she heard two old ladies discussing on the tube few days ago.

"I didn't know that you had any married friends." Jane sounded genuinely astonished.

"Erm, we worked together some time ago. I actually do have some friends contrary to popular belief."

"There's no need to be so defensive, Lizzy. I do know a guy, who's the one for the job. I'll send you his details, if it's alright with you."

"Sure. By the way, I got the job!"

"Congrats, Lizzy! We should go out and celebrate, but knowing you, you probably just want to say at home with a nice cup of tea and a good book."

"Oh, Jane, you know me so well! Well, thank you for the info and see you soon. Bye!"

"Bye!"

Right after hanging up the phone, she saw that Jane had sent her a message on Facebook with the name and the phone number. She called and managed to get an appointment for the next afternoon.

* * *

Her first day in ADG went well. She was introduced to the most of the staff she would be working with and got a comprehensive training on how to use all the databases and programmes that are necessary in her work. She maintained a perfect poker face and decided to play ignorant, because in reality she knew some of the software better than the HR woman who was training her. She had helped to create them.

Since she managed to finish all her training more quickly than the average employees, she was finished right before noon. That suited her perfectly. She had sufficient time to go home, have a nice hot shower she had dreamt about the whole morning, and then be ready right in time for the meeting with the lawyer.

She reached the building at her regular time, ten minutes before the meeting. To her surprise, the firm was situated in a quaint three-storey building. She had googled it and from the sound of it she would've expected the office to be in a modern skyscraper.

She entered the building and was immediately greeted by a brunette receptionist with a friendly smile and a faint Italian accent. She was offered tea and a selection of magazines to read. Lizzy was pleasantly surprised by the choice; instead of more common publications that focused on celebrity gossip, the table was covered with the likes of The Time and National Geographic. When she had just chosen The Private Eye, she was asked to enter the office.

A good-looking man in his late thirties was sitting behind a massive desk and beckoned her to take a seat. 'Not as handsome as Darcy,' noted her subconscious immediately and it took Lizzy a lot of effort not to roll her eyes.

"So, Missis Bennet, I gather that you are here to seek a divorce." He started with a pleasant baritone voice.

"Actually it's Miss Bennet. Mrs Bennet is my mother," joked Lizzy: "And you are quite correct in assuming that I seek a divorce."

"Would you be so kind and tell me your story?"

"Well, in summary, my husband and I have been married for four years. We got hitched, as you might say, in Las Vegas and I haven't seen him since the wedding night when he left without saying a word."

"Ouch, that's harsh. You must've been quite hurt."

"I was." Lizzy could feel her eyes filling up with tears. 'No, you shall not cry. That bastard doesn't deserve any more tears,' she thought to herself.

The lawyer saw the hurt in her eyes and replied with a cheerful yet supportive tone: "I say that the bastard deserves all that he's going to get. I'm going to take your case, Miss Bennet. Do you want to take everything he owns or only half?" he finished jokingly with a crooked smile.

Lizzy giggled at his antics: "No, sir, you misunderstand me," and she continued with a more serious tone: "I just want to close this chapter in my life. I want nothing from him."

"Okay, Miss Bennet, I'll see what I can do and I'll let you know as soon as I have compiled the papers."

"Thank you, Mister Jones!"

"Oh blast! I forgot to introduce myself once again. Unfortunately Mr Jones is ill and I'm covering for him. I'm Richard Fitzwilliam." He bowed, trying to impersonate a 19th century gentleman, but seeing the humoured gleam in Lizzy's eyes he ruptured with laughter.

She chuckled with him and finally managed to say: "Thank you once again," although sounding slightly out of breath.

She left the barrister's office feeling much happier. If she had known getting a divorce would make her feel like this, she would've done it much sooner.

* * *

 _Thank you all for following and favouring and of course for the reviews. I hope that one day (soon) I'll get some time to reply to them._

 _I'm sorry that this chapter is a bit late (and honestly the writing is shit so kudos to all who didn't abandon reading half way through). I mentioned that I'd be abroad at the end of the last chapter. Well, I was in Brussels and it left me emotionally and physically exhausted. My co-workers just exited the metro few minutes before the bomb exploded, my friends flew the night before from the Zaventem Airport and I was supposed to fly back home from there the next day. I guess it's a whole other story seeing it from the news and not being there than being close by and seeing the aftershock with your own eyes._

 _I'm not sure when I'll be able to write and post the next chapter, because real life is starting to interfere. I have a few exams coming up and this time I should really be studying for them. I just hope that I'll have enough time to post something next week._

 _All the best_

 _E.G._


End file.
